ART-PREVIEW:Brice Marden-Marbles and Drawings

Brice Marden’s work is deeply influenced by the places he has lived and worked, the people in his life, the cultures in which he has immersed himself, not the least of them the art of the past, both ancient and recent. From his sharp syntheses and distillations of his experiences, an art is made that in turn gives viewers an incisive means to reflect more deeply on their own perceptions, knowledge, and experience.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Gagosian Gallery Archive

In 1971, Marden and Helen Marden visited Hydra, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. The qualities of a place and its light strongly figure into Marden’s work, and allusions to the Mediterranean landscape can be seen in Marden’s work through the early 1980s—his colors became brighter, surfaces became lusher, and canvases bigger and bolder. In “Hydra” paintings (1972), Marden captured the turquoise hues of the Mediterranean, also, “Thira” (1979–80), a painting composed of 18 interconnected panels, inspired by the shadows and geometry of ancient temples. In “Marbles and Drawings”.  his first solo exhibition in Greece after 40 years, Brice Marden presents paintings and works on paper. In 1981, while summering on the island of Hydra, Marden began painting on small fragments of marble he found on the island. Reflecting the light and landscape of Greece, these paintings feature vibrant colors and geometric compositions, which subtly incorporate each piece of marble’s natural variations. Marden’s earlier series of paintings on marble, completed over a six-year period between 1981 and 1987, played a principal role in the transition from his early monochromatic paintings to the later calligraphic work. Continuing his long-standing engagement with classical Greek themes, the marble imparts Marden’s elemental motifs and geometric shapes with a certain luminosity. Since that time, Marden has continued to make marble paintings, describing his strategy as “taking an accident and turning it into a form”.  He partially tints the stone ground with thin, translucent layers of oil paint, producing serenely colored rectangles alongside bars of black and gray. These compositions work in harmony with each stone’s inherent texture and veining pattern; some even preserve traces of ruled graphite markers. To complement the marbles, Marden has selected a small group of ink drawings on paper. In “Extended Eagles Mere Drawing” (1990), a grid of black lines is interwoven with linear strands and patches of deep yellows, greens, and reds. In Untitled (1990), Marden looks to the traditional methods of Chinese calligraphy; working from top to bottom and right to left, he fills the paper with columns of glyphic marks that loosen the strictures of the grid with a gestural freedom. Also on view for the first time is “Free Painting 3” (2017), a six-panel painting. Marden builds up the surface of each monochromatic square panel with thinly applied layers of deep reds, blues, greens, and yellows. He allows the residue from each square to run downward, transforming the open space beneath into a sort of secular predella to reveal vital aspects of his painting process.

Info: Curator: Dimitris Antonitsis, Gagosian Gallery, 22 Anapiron Polemou Street, Athens, Duration: 24/9-19/12/20, Days & Hours: Mon-Fri 11:00-19:00, https://gagosian.com